Morning all.
It’s a big one in the Champions League this evening as Atletico Madrid come to town. We’ve only played them once before in European competition, that was back in 2018 when we drew 1-1 at home in a game when they were down to 10 men very early on, before losing the second leg 1-0 on the night when Laurent Koscielny snapped his Achilles.
Still, late-stage Arsene Wenger v Diego Simeone feels different from ‘prime’ Mikel Arteta v Diego Simeone. No doubt you’ve seen some of the memes, but two managers who have real defensive focus, and a lot of touchline intensity, will go head to head this evening, and it promises to be a fascinating encounter.
I don’t envisage too many changes from the team that played against Fulham. If I had to guess right now, I’d say Mikel Merino will come into midfield ahead of Eberechi Eze to give us more physical presence from set-pieces and in their box, and I think Gabriel Martinelli might start on the left with Leandro Trossard dropping to the bench. Beyond that, it’s hard to see how Arteta will shuffle his pack against opposition of this quality unless there are some fitness issues we’re not fully aware of.
Speaking ahead of the game, he was asked about what makes Simeone’s teams so tough to play against, and said:
First of all, the willingness to win. You can sense that in every single ball, in every single yard, the way they play, so it’s about how they compete and then after how they play. I think there are two very different things, and in order to have to analyse what they are, the level of organisation is really high, the level of discipline is really high and then they have acquired a lot of talent throughout the years that are very specific for the needs and the way they want to play and they are very, very good at exploiting those opportunities.
Clearly, the Argentine is well capable of sending out a team to frustrate the opposition, and deny them opportunities, but I also think framing him as a purely defensive coach is a misnomer. Although they lie 8 points being Real Madrid in La Liga right now, they won the derby back in September 5-2 (highlights here if you fancy). They have quite varied attacking threat with Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann his preferred pick for most games, but Alexander Sorloth off the bench gives you something different to worry about. Suffice to say, while tonight could well develop into a kind of war of attrition, our defenders and defensive record will be tested. And I think we have what it takes to cause them problems in the final third too, which makes this such an interesting fixture.
Although I’m not sure I’m a fan of the new league format in this competition, the fact you only play each other once does slightly change the dynamic. In previous years, Atletico might come to London and dig in, knowing there’s another game in Madrid later in the group stage. That’s not the case any more, and perhaps that might inform the approach of both managers tonight.
Obviously it will come down to the players on the pitch, but the tactical match-up will be fascinating, and if things do get a bit heated – which is not beyond the realms of possibility – all eyes will be on the sideline to see how the managers react. Arteta was asked about how difficult it can be to keep your cool in the heat of battle, and said:
You are defending your club and your players and you know that small details can define at the end whether you win a match or not, and we are there living it with high emotions and very difficult to control. You see that sometimes when we get really obsessed and really high we start to run with our players and celebrate goals. I think it’s something natural, I think it has to be understood when it’s done in a respectful way, as always. From my experience, over the years I have tried to be a little bit calmer, but there are moments when it’s not easy.
I hope tonight is as close to routine as you can get for Arsenal, but there’s also another part of me that hopes this is a night of high emotion (as long as things turn out the right way for us in terms of the result). As I said though, it will come down to what happens on the pitch, and I think we’ll see two sides who have a lot of respect for each other. How that progresses throughout the 90 minutes, we’ll have to wait and see!
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. As ever we’ll have live blog coverage of the game for you, and all the post-match stuff – including player ratings and reaction – on Arseblog News.
If you need something to listen to in the meantime, there’s the Arsecast Extra below. And on Patreon you’ll find a brand new episode of The 30 – our Premier League round-up podcast – looking back on what was an interesting weekend with some good results for Arsenal and lots more.
Catch you later for the game!
